Pixel Research and Revolution Software: Using AI to remaster classic games.

Pixel Research is an AI startup tackling a critical challenge for the gaming industry: the demand for efficient and cost-effective solutions for remastering classic video games. Revolution Software is a developer and publisher of narrative-driven adventure computer games, best known for the award-winning Broken Sword series, which has sold over 10 million copies.

Pixel Research partnered with Revolution Software to investigate the feasibility of implementing an AI solution for remastering game assets and integrating it into existing game studio workflows to reduce the work hours involved.

The opportunity

The trend for remastering classic game titles has gained momentum in recent years, with many game studios and publishers republishing for modern platforms. This can be an excellent way to generate substantial additional revenue, appealing to older fans and new audiences who may not have played the original. Remastering typically involves enhancing the graphics and
audio of the original, while improving the user experience to make it more appealing and accessible to modern audiences. However, this involves a significant time commitment and can be prohibitively expensive.

The collaboration looked at how AI could be developed, trained and used to upscale the original low-resolution images. In recent years, there has been a significant advancement in image upscaling technology using AI, which can learn to identify patterns in low-resolution images and generate high- resolution versions of the same image with significantly improved quality. But there had been no projects looking at how to upscale very low-resolution hand-drawn assets for game remastering.

The outcome

Using Revolution Software’s current remastering project (Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars: Reforged), as a case study, the BridgeAI funded project aim was to integrate AI directly into the game development workflow, adopting an artist-in-the-loop approach and developing a general commercial tool as a demonstrator. The resulting AI model has been successful in producing better results in upscaling these low-res assets than any other commercial tool currently available. Revolution Software estimates that they can reduce the overall cost of their game remastering by around 69%.

This outcome of this partnership and project will directly improve business productivity in the creative industries, by providing game development studios with a cost-effective approach to enhancing original game assets.

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